World Environment Day: Why resource management must sit at the heart of climate action

By Dan Cooke, Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at CIWM.

When organisations think about climate action, the conversation often centres on energy efficiency, renewable power and reducing carbon emissions from transport. These are all important priorities, but they are only part of the picture.

World Environment Day provides an opportunity to broaden that conversation. While the transition to renewable energy remains essential, it is only part of the climate solution. Research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation suggests that renewable energy can address around 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while the remaining 45 per cent are linked to the way we make and use products and food. This means that resource management and circular economy principles must play a central role in climate action.

Resource management is no longer simply an environmental issue. It is a climate issue, a resilience issue and a business issue.

For facilities managers, that presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The decisions made every day about procurement, waste, recycling, food waste, maintenance and asset management can have a significant impact on an organisation’s environmental footprint and its ability to meet wider sustainability goals.

The resource and waste management sector has already made significant progress in helping to tackle climate change. Methane emissions from the sector have fallen by around 74 per cent since 1990, driven largely by reductions in emissions from landfilled waste. Improvements in transport, recycling infrastructure, landfill diversion, methane capture and energy recovery have all contributed to reducing the climate impact of waste management systems.

At the same time, policy reforms are helping to accelerate progress. Measures such as Extended Producer Responsibility, Simpler Recycling and the rollout of separate food waste collections are creating greater consistency, improving the quality of materials collected for recycling and supporting the transition towards a more circular economy. For many facilities managers, these reforms are already influencing how waste and recycling services are designed, delivered and communicated across workplaces.

Increasingly, businesses are recognising that waste is not simply something to be managed, but a source of value. Materials that were once discarded are now being viewed as assets that can reduce costs, strengthen supply chains and support sustainability objectives. Keeping materials in productive use for longer makes both environmental and commercial sense.

The climate benefits are also substantial. Research suggests that applying circular economy principles across key material sectors could reduce global emissions by 9.3 billion tonnes of CO₂e by 2050 – equivalent to eliminating current emissions from all forms of transport globally. Resource efficiency, reuse, repair and recycling are therefore not simply waste management activities; they are increasingly important climate solutions.

Facilities managers sit at the intersection of people, places and resources. They influence how buildings operate, how materials are consumed, how waste is managed and how employees engage with sustainability initiatives. Whether through improving recycling systems, reducing food waste, extending the life of assets, supporting reuse programmes or embedding sustainable procurement practices, facilities managers are uniquely positioned to help organisations move beyond waste management and towards resource stewardship.

The benefits extend beyond environmental performance. More efficient use of resources can help organisations reduce costs, improve resilience and demonstrate progress against sustainability commitments. In many cases, the most effective environmental initiatives are also the ones that make good business sense.

However, if we are to realise the full potential of resource management as a climate solution, further progress is needed.

Infrastructure, investment and policy remain critical, but so too are skills. Delivering the transition will require a workforce with the knowledge and expertise to design, operate and improve the systems needed for a more circular economy.

Perhaps most importantly, we need to continue changing perceptions. Climate action cannot be viewed solely through the lens of energy. The resources we consume and the products we buy have a significant environmental impact, and organisations must increasingly recognise the value of the resources already within their control.

The urgency of that challenge is only increasing. The world already generates more than 2.5 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, and that figure is projected to rise to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. Without continued investment, innovation and collaboration, the environmental, economic and social impacts of waste will become increasingly difficult to manage.

These challenges are not unique to the UK. Around the world, governments, businesses and resource professionals are grappling with many of the same questions: how to reduce waste, maximise the value of resources, strengthen resilience and accelerate progress towards a more circular economy.

That is why international collaboration is becoming increasingly important. Later this year, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) World Congress, hosted by CIWM in London, will bring together experts from across the globe to explore key issues including human rights, political commitment, waste planning, the economics of resource and waste management, and the circular economy. While countries may be at different stages of their journey, the objective is shared: creating systems that protect health, reduce environmental impacts and make better use of the world’s finite resources.

As organisations reflect on their environmental commitments this World Environment Day, resource management deserves a place alongside energy and carbon reduction as a core part of the climate agenda. The way organisations manage resources today will play a significant role in determining whether we achieve a more sustainable, resilient and low-carbon future tomorrow.